I Know Things & So Do You

The conversation took place during the space between a time that never was and a moment that could have been.

Which is to say it might have happened during uncertain moment that bridges the place between sleep and awake.

You know the one I am talking about, it is that place where you aren’t sure if a conversation happened in a dream or for real and the harder you try to figure it out the more difficult it becomes to ascertain the truth.

It is possible they told me that I post too frequently on Facebook and or that I ought to think about what it is I have posted.

And it is possible I told them I sometimes test messaging out on Facebook and that I use it as my own cybersandbox.

It is just as likely I ignored them and did what I wanted to do or that it was all a dream.

I Know Things & So Do You

I love watching fighter jets fly and wonder what it would be like to be a pilot.

Sometimes I stare at them and wonder if I would be a better pilot now than I would have been in my early twenties.

It feels like my reflexes are still as fast as they ever were and even though my waist size is larger than it once was I think I could do it.

But does it answer the question about whether I would be better now than then?

Well, not really.

Twenty some years ago I might have been more willing to go for it, to push the limits because I knew that bruises disappeared overnight and the mystery aches hadn’t yet appeared.

Yet I wasn’t as clever and thoughtful. Shock and awe were my favorite tools and I was pretty good at making them work for me.

Hard to say whether hard charging and relentless would be more effective than what a more seasoned man could bring to the table, especially when the relentless part hasn’t changed.

I couldn’t decide between using that quote or if I should use an Einstein quote and figured there was no reason I couldn’t do both.

After all Churchill is the man who said if you have an important point to make you shouldn’t be subtle or clever.

The man was one of the key leaders in stopping Hitler so who am I to ignore his advice about how to make a point.

And that point is the importance of recognizing the value of experience and understanding the struggles you go through will be of value to you one day.

That is a lesson life has taught me more than once and if you go back to the question about whether I would be a better pilot now than when I was in my twenties  I’d say I am 1000 times tougher mentally now.

The Einstein quote fits in my worldview because it addresses the two poles I try to live my life between.

For me life is a blend of science and magic. There are a ton of things that I can look at science as providing an explanation for and some stuff that it just doesn’t cover with the sort of clarity I want.

There are some things that don’t fit into neat little boxes and equations, moments and experiences best described as shit happens.

What Works For You Today

My kids might be surprised to hear me say “shit happens” because my typical stance is one where I stress being accountable for our own actions.

It is the one where I tell them their room is a mess because they didn’t make time to clean it, not because they had too much homework.

They are tired because they didn’t manage their time well and had to stay up later to take care of things that should have been handled earlier.

But I do that now because I want them to be accountable and responsible for themselves. They’ll learn in time that there are lots of things that are outside of our control and that we have to manage those situations.

They’ll also learn that what works for them today might not work for them later.

Many of my beliefs have evolved over time and what once worked for me doesn’t any more.

We change and evolve.

About Those Fighter Jets

Right now I am staring at the jets in the picture at the top of the page and thinking about how fast time moves and how they seem be the perfect symbol of that.

Change is coming at breakneck speed and I can’t stop it from happening not that I would necessarily try if I could.

At best I might consider slowing it down a bit, but I can’t say for certain because there is a certain excitement that comes with along with it.

That sense of growth and opportunity helps to take the edge off of the uncertainty.

*****

Time to run get ready for the Mother’s Day celebrations and see if maybe a hot shower helps bring some clarity to whether that conversation about Facebook really took place or not.

Got lots to do and there is never enough time to do it all, but I am not afraid to try to see if maybe this time I manage to grab that brass ring.

Never know when that carousel is going to circle around again, do we.